Saturday, July 5, 2014
The Painter's Painter
He began an art apprenticeship at the age of 11. And I wonder how sad it is these days that public education is structured the way it is and how many children with special talents are not giving many opportunities to develop them. Perhaps the subject of another blog entry?
He is considered to be one of the most influential artists in European history. This is his most famous masterpiece, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) which you can see first hand today in Madrid's Museo del Prado.
,_by_Velazquez.jpg)
This photo from the Wikipedia entry about the painting itself. There is a lot going on in this amazing work of art. The little girl in it is simply watching Velazquez paint her royal mom and dad while her handmaidens are tending her...along with some little people.
You can see a reflection of the people he's painting in the mirror behind him. And check out the huge canvas he's painting on! I am going to see if I can find some close ups of some of his work tomorrow so we can check out the brush strokes and get a better idea of his technique.
Hope you all are enjoying your 4th of July weekend and are making some time for looking at art. If any of you are in Jackson Hole, Tubac, Fredericksburg, Texas or Estes Park, Colorado (special showing) go check out my sculpture! The galleries are a beautiful AND air conditioned place to visit.
Talk with you tomorrow!
~Alex
Friday, July 4, 2014
Nice Clouds !
John Constable Hampstead Heath painted in 1820
Looking around today (as Friday is Art History day) at some work by Jasper Johns (well, you know...in honor of today being the 4th of July) I came across a wonderful website called Artspace. The article there by Noelle Bodick called How to Understand Jasper Johns's Haunting "Regrets" at MoMA a show that opened last March.
"Where did the photo of John Constable come from if I started with Johns?"
You may wonder. ..
The "Regrets" exhibit is of Johns' works based on a photograph he became fascinated with. It is a photo of another artist named Lucian Freud.
Who is Lucian Freud? A grandchild of Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud was a British artist who was quite famous for his portrait paintings. For many years he was very good friends with Francis Bacon who is considered to have been one of the greatest figurative painters of the 20th century. This photo was found in Bacon's studio.
Another article by in The Spectator mentions that Freud and Bacon were "the Turner and Constable of their age." And that's when I looked up Constable's art and found a photo of the painting above. Nice Clouds!
There you go. Our art history lesson for today.
Thanks for going along with me.
And Happy 4th of July!
~Alex
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Oh My Gosh! I Hate that Color!
Van Gogh - master colorist?
Color is, of course complicated by sight. And not all of the visual signals that are absorbed by our eyes to the visual center of our brains. Some evidence suggests that the light of different colors enters the eye and indirectly affects the hypothalamus, which in turn affects the pituitary gland.
Our pituitary gland receives about 20% of our visual signals. And, since the pituitary gland controls our hormone levels is makes sense that it would affect our moods.
Experiments have shown that in rooms colored in red light, time was overestimated while in green or blue light, time was underestimated. Workers lifting black boxes had the thought that they were very heavy; but when the same boxes were painted green they felt lighter.
Blackfriars Bridge in London, was painted black sometime back in history. A huge number of people committed suicide leaping from the bridge until it was painted bright green.
Whatever we see is assessed by our brains which relates the current visual data with information stored in our memory. We all have rods and cones in our retina which responds to light (in subtle ways unique to each individual) and various receptors in our brain are sensitive to certain vibrations.
When painting it is important to remember that the human eye sees warm colors before cool colors. - which is why warm colors advance and cool colors recede. We see highly saturated colors as appearing closer than colors of low saturation.
What were the impressionist artists trying communicate and achieve with their prolific use of color?
Hope you all have a colorful, fun, and safe 4th of July tomorrow!
'Til then :)
~Alex
Whatever we see is assessed by our brains which relates the current visual data with information stored in our memory. We all have rods and cones in our retina which responds to light (in subtle ways unique to each individual) and various receptors in our brain are sensitive to certain vibrations.
When painting it is important to remember that the human eye sees warm colors before cool colors. - which is why warm colors advance and cool colors recede. We see highly saturated colors as appearing closer than colors of low saturation.
What were the impressionist artists trying communicate and achieve with their prolific use of color?
Hope you all have a colorful, fun, and safe 4th of July tomorrow!
'Til then :)
~Alex
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Painting Day 2
Day 2 - sorry about the weird lighting vertical striping effect
...it sure looks a lot different than yesterday!
I'm including Day 1
just so you don't have to scroll down :)
There is still a lot to do with this one but it's feeling pretty good so far. I won't get back to it tomorrow as there is family in town for the holiday weekend. But I will be back with the next segment of it on Monday, so stay tuned.
Got to go today...time to feed the cows and collect eggs. Hope you had a wonderful day and I love feedback...just saying...
'Till tomorrow!
~Alex
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Painting Outside
I know. It doesn't look like much right now - and the subject of the painting, the foals, are not yet painted in, but this is how a painting sometimes starts, with an underpainting "sketch" of values and shapes in colors often the opposite of the final colors they will be at the end.
First Layer - Dry Creek Quartet Painting
You will notice that the blob on the left is green and is a tree sure enough. That is a Russian Olive tree and has many bright silvery leaves so the dark is just the base for the shadow areas.
I am painting this picture to donate to The Cloud Foundation of the rescued foals from a BLM roundup last March. Once they have the painting, it is up to them what they will do with it - maybe they will auction it off at one of their events.
A very wonderful veterinarian with a huge heart for all animals, especially horses, has been caring for these precocious youngsters for many months now. Lisa Jacobson Dvm had a lot to worry about where these little ones were concerned in the beginning - but took on the challenge with her typical good natured self.
At first she had to give them milk replacer and pro-biotics and tons of other things to carefully care for them in their early days - since they were orphaned before they were old enough to be weaned. Their moms and the rest of their family were rounded up by the BLM and then shipped off to a company in Canada to be slaughtered.
Despite their difficult start in life they are strong and healthy and well adjusted thanks to all the people who intervened on their behalf. They have Lisa to thank for that most of all, I think.
The Dry Creek Quartet in May
Lisa is caring for several wonderful horses. If you are looking for a horse for yourself or someone else - contact Lisa. The horses in her care are all healthy and happy. You can contact Lisa on her Facebook page. You can see all the antics of the Dry Creek Quartet, the subject of my latest painting, on her Facebook page too!
Hope everyone had a art filled Tuesday.
I'll be back tomorrow!
~Alex
Monday, June 30, 2014
Stubborness
More than once.
Not that I care.
I think I am persistent.
A much nicer word I think.
But if I wasn't stubborn I might not be persistent either.
I see myself as a successful artist. Persistent vision and working in the direction of the vision (persistently) I have of myself is so important. You too! You go where you look!
an O'Keeffe painting she did in college
a Pollock - a foreshadowing of his drip style
I love being a sculptor and am committed to creating the very highest quality work I possibly can. I know that over time my work will get even better but I don't believe that today I will create the very best work I will create tomorrow.
I don't even begin to know everything there is to know. But - I am persistent and I keep working.
The fact that I have begun my journey into the world of Professional Artist in a very good way and already have so many collectors of my work is something I am endlessly grateful for. But it didn't happen by magic.
Rothko Untitled from 1940
an early Van Gogh - Potato Eaters
I don't know about all professional artists. Do we all work hard and pretty much all the time? I don't know. I just know that I don't just sit around and sculpt all day.
I talk to suppliers and research and answer the phone and correspond and network and now I blog. I learn new skills all the time.
Sure I'm doing all this from a home studio. Does that mean luxury?
an early Kandinsky-Odessa.Port
Hell no. And you know why? Because I am an entrepreneur. I get to create art and that is my business.
I won't be successful if I don't work hard. I figure it will take years and years of hard work to be at the level of success I envision.
But, if I'm meant to be here for years and years anyway, why not spend it working for the vision I have for myself using the gifts I've been given if I can figure out how?
Lichtenstein-Ten Dollar Bill 1956
My spouse is supportive and that is huge! Not every artist has someone in their life who has their back. But if I don't do my part, his support will just be an indulgence.
How many (successful) entrepreneurs ignore their investors? That we are married does not make what he is doing less than that. He believes in me and genuinely wants me to be this...sacrifices more than money for me to be this.
Thanks for reading.
I could go on but you no doubt have as many balls in the air as I do.
'Till tomorrow!
~Alex
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Artist Inspiration Sunday
Bernie Fuchs - fabulous light in his paintings!
Hello. Happy Sunday!
To help you get started every week! Some inspiration to get you going creating right away on Monday. I need it and SO DO YOU! (Well, maybe)
Every Sunday I will be sharing a page from a little book I have called Artist to Artist Inspiration and Advice from Artists Past and Present compiled by Clint Brown.
Quotes on Being an Artist
To be an artist is to believe in life.
-Henry Moore
The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of boing; a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence.
-Robert Henri
If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.
-Albrecht Durer
It's a quality of the young to simplify matters. Later a sense of nuance becomes increasingly exaggerated. As one gets older one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their won work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion.
-Jasper Johns
The artists is the man who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful. His trade is to deal with illimitable experience. It is therefore only of importance for the artist to discover whether he be an artists, and it is for society to discover what return it can make of its artist.
-George Bellows
An odd contradiction, if the layman were correct in his unconscious assumption that the artist begins with reality and ends with art: the converse is true- to the degree that this dichotomy has any truth - the artist begins with art and through it arrives at reality.
-Robert Motherwell
Every good artist paints what he is.
-Jackson Pollock
I don't demand that all work be a masterpiece. I think what I am doing is the right thing for me - that is what I am and this is living. It reflects me and I reflect it.
-Louise Nevelson
"I started working in oils because I was inspired by the rich glow of sunlight passing through an amber mug of ale in London. I wanted to be able to capture that feeling in a painting..."
-Bernie Fuchs (quoted in the catalogue of his recent 50 year retrospective at the Telluride Gallery)
I'm off to continue do my best to create a beautiful day.
...and I hope you create - in your own beautiful way -
your own beautiful day. :)
~Alex
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)